Releasing the power of the church to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and to care for the poor.

Saturday, 13 March 2010

Tumaini Children’s Home

Project Overview

The Tumaini Children’s Home is located in Kakira near Jinja and was

started in 1996 as part of the Kakira Christian Centre by Pastor Nicholas Ong’amo and his wife Maria. The building project was started in 2004 and quickly grew beyond the capability of the support of the local Church. The home was conceived as a response of the local Church to the plight of orphans and vulnerable children in the local community.

The main industry in Kakira is the sugar cane plantation which employs many migrant workers who live in the local village. These workers are away from home for a period of months or years and take a local wife and have a family. When the man returns to his home he leaves behind the local wife and children creating a large population of at risk children. The mobility of the community has caused high levels of HIV infection. The home cares for 72 children aged about 5 to 17 years today

Love Africa Support for Tumaini

Love Africa became involved in 2008 in a two year project to support the upgrading of the building where the children live to include completing the roofing of the building, the ceilings, installation of electricity and an underground water system, and in addition to provide supplementary support for food for the children five days per month and some support for school fees. The project has been supervised by our partners in ACET Uganda.

Progress to date

The progress with the building has been slower than planned. The work to complete the ceilings is scheduled to be complete in February 2010 with the electrical work to follow. The water system is partially installed and the work on the roof is completed.

There have been many visitors from St James to Tumaini, most recently Rev Martin Williams, Rector of St James and Dr Frank Armstrong, Chairman of Love Africa, in February 2010.

We have seen the children mature and benefit from the stable and loving environment provided by Pastor Nicholas and Maria. Everyone who visits is impressed by the warm Christian environment, the singing and the interest the children have in meeting visitors

Love Africa’s support of Tumaini has been a learning experience for the Love Africa Steering Group and our partners ACET. Pastor Nicholas is a Godly man of great vision who places the welfare of the children first, but he is reluctant to adhere to plans and be supervised by ACET.

The LASG has taken the view that the welfare of the children is of primary importance and we should work to ensure that our goal of providing a safe, secure living environment, food security and support for education is achieved.

What’s next?

Pastor Nicholas is a man with great vision for Tumaini to include building a primary school (underway) for P1 and 2 and then extending this building to other primary school classes, a secondary school and facilities for boarding.

The LASG will consider ways we can go “deeper” and “broader” in our support of Tumaini in ways that build the capability of the school and increase self sufficiency rather than supporting new building programmes.